The Effects of Propolis on Viral Respiratory Diseases

Abstract

Propolis remains an interesting source of natural chemical compounds that show, among others, antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, antioxidative and anti-inflammatory activities. Due to the growing incidence of respiratory tract infections caused by various pathogenic viruses, complementary methods of prevention and therapy supporting pharmacotherapy are constantly being sought out. The properties of propolis may be important in the prevention and treatment of respiratory tract diseases caused by viruses such as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, influenza viruses, the parainfluenza virus and rhinoviruses. One of the main challenges in recent years has been severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), causing COVID-19. Recently, an increasing number of studies are focusing on the activity of various propolis preparations against SARS-CoV-2 as an adjuvant treatment for this infection. Propolis has shown a few key mechanisms of anti-SARS-CoV-2 action such as: the inhibition of the interaction of the S1 spike protein and ACE-2 protein; decreasing the replication of viruses by diminishing the synthesis of RNA transcripts in cells; decreasing the particles of coronaviruses. The anti-viral effect is observed not only with extracts but also with the single biologically active compounds found in propolis (e.g., apigenin, caffeic acid, chrysin, kaempferol, quercetin). Moreover, propolis is effective in the treatment of hyperglycemia, which increases the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infections. The aim of the literature review was to summarize recent studies from the PubMed database evaluating the antiviral activity of propolis extracts in terms of prevention and the therapy of respiratory tract diseases (in vitro, in vivo, clinical trials). Based upon this review, it was found that in recent years studies have focused mainly on the assessment of the effectiveness of propolis and its chemical components against COVID-19. Propolis exerts wide-spectrum antimicrobial activities; thus, propolis extracts can be an effective option in the prevention and treatment of co-infections associated with diseases of the respiratory tract.

Effects of European Propolis administration on the growth performance, health status, selected blood biochemical and immunological variables of pre-weaning calves

“…This nding is consistent with calf lung lesions on days 14 and 28. Recently, many studies have been conducted that evaluate the effectiveness of different types of propolis supplementation against respiratory diseases (Ożarowski and Karpiński, 2023). Probably the amount of propolis or duration of supplementation was not enough to signi cantly affect the occurrence of respiratory diseases in the present study.…”

Plant-Derived Epi-Nutraceuticals as Potential Broad-Spectrum Anti-Viral Agents

“…Apigenin exhibited antiviral properties against IAV, human rhinovirus (HRV), HSV, enterovirus, HBV, HCV, EV71, and SARS-CoV-2 [195][196][197][198]. Its anti-viral activity is attributed, in part, to the inhibition of HDAC activity and chromatin remodeling [192,199]. Apigenin, linalool, and ursolic acid showed a strong anti-viral activity towards coxsackievirus B1 (CVB1) [200].…”

“…Exhibits antiviral properties against IAV, HRV, HSV, enterovirus, HBV, HCV, EV71, CVB1, and SARS-CoV-2 [195][196][197][198]200]. Anti-viral activity is attributed to the inhibition of HDAC activity and chromatin remodeling [192,199]. Downregulates miR-103 [201], miR-155 [111], and miR-122 [202] to affect HCV and HIV replication [113][114][115].…”

Isolation of phenolic compounds from eco‐friendly white bee propolis: Antioxidant, wound‐healing, and anti‐Alzheimer effects

“…In many countries, propolis is used in traditional medicine, cosmetics, and food industries (Omer et al., 2023 ; Viuda‐Martos et al., 2008 ). It has also many pharmacological activities such as antioxidants (Ding et al., 2021 ), antimicrobial (Abdullah et al., 2020 ), antiamoebic (Zullkiflee et al., 2023 ), antidiabetic, antihypertensive (Farida et al., 2023 ), antiviral (Ożarowski & Karpiński, 2023 ), anti‐inflammatory (El‐Guendouz et al., 2017 ), anti‐allergic, hepatoprotective (Kolankaya et al., 2002 ), analgesic–anesthetic activity (Orsatti & Sforcin, 2012 ), immuno‐modulatory (Zullkiflee et al., 2022 ), and anticancer properties (Campoccia et al., 2021 ). Propolis is a functional food so many researchers focus on propolis attributing to its biological properties (Busch et al., 2017 ).…”